Watchdog’s Scariest People of 2015: No. 22

Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s presidential campaign has gone nowhere even though top-tier candidates haven’t bothered to attack his support for Obamacare. When the last fumes of gas in the Kasich for Us Bus run out, the Republican will return his attention to Ohio; this might be the scariest news of all for Ohio taxpayers.

Kasich’s Medicaid expansion has cost federal taxpayers more than $5 billion in less than two years, and the state will be on the hook for part of the costs starting in 2017. The governor backed Republican legislative supermajorities in the Ohio House and Ohio Senate into a corner on Medicaid, convincing most to sign off on a continuation of Obamacare’s welfare coverage for working-age adults with no kids and no disabilities.

On energy policy, in particular, Kasich has unfinished business that could be a boon for “green energy” lobbyists and a burden for everyone else. Shrugging off as “unacceptable” lawmakers’ recommendation to stop ratcheting up costly state energy targets, Kasich seems ready to fight for steeper mandates on efficiency and electricity generation. Kasich continues to push for a big tax hike on fracking for oil and natural gas, too.